“I have never had a nose job!” Esther was screaming. “I’ll sue you for slander, you bitch—”
“Yes, you have, Mother,” Damen said without heat, his back still to her, his amused gaze still on his embarrassed wife. Something warm and tender had uncurled inside him the moment Mairi took his hand and spoke in his defense, and the feeling only grew stronger the longer he looked at his wife. “I think we’re done here,” he told him quietly. “Shall we go?”
Mairi said simply, “Whatever you want.”
The words made Damen want to kiss her. God, how he loved this woman. Maybe he really was selfish for keeping her with him, but if she ever found it in her heart to love him again, Damen swore on his life he’d devote every second of his time to making her feel cherished.
Mairi watched Damen and Drake exchange looks before they simultaneously moved to keep her in between them while they made their way back to the sidewalk. The silent communication made her bite back a smile. Maybe one day, Mairi hoped fervently, they could even be friends. That could happen, right?
Damen’s arm was still around her waist, and silly or not, she took comfort in the possessive way he held her close to him. Was it also silly, Mairi wondered, that even though they had all the odds stacked against them, she had never felt closer to Damen? It felt like it was just the two of them against the world, Mairi thought wistfully, and stupid silly her, but she couldn’t be happier about it.
As Drake called for a cab, Mairi saw Damen reach for his phone and answer a call. He spoke Greek in a low voice, but since she stood close to him, it was easy enough for Mairi to understand his words. “I’m not alone right now. I’ll talk to you later.”
When he put the phone down, she asked, “Who was that?”
Damen stilled.
After a beat he answered, “No one important.”
All Mairi’s hopes for Damen and her died at those words. She could only think of one person that Damen wouldn’t want her to know he was talking to.
Alina.
Chapter Seven
She said: To wed a Greek billionaire, one must be ready to protect one’s property.
He said: You make me sound very helpless. You do remember I’m bigger and stronger than you, don’t you?
She said: But can you use your strength to hit a woman who’s hitting on you?
He said: (Pause) Point taken.
If Mairi made one of those sexy husky laughs of hers one more time, Damen thought furiously, he would not be liable for what he would do to the asshole sitting in front of them.
“That’s why PP gets mad,” Drake was saying. “She hated it when I was too soft on her or gave her special treatment.”
Who the fuck was PP anyway? But then did he really care? Right now, what really grated on his nerves was how Mairi was practically sitting on the edge of their seat, leaning against the back of Morrison’s seat as she listened to him talk, the expression on her face making it seem like she was hanging on to his every word. Damen’s lips tightened. And if she said Drake was fucking cute one more time—
“Oh, you are just too cute, Drake,” Mairi gushed.
That was fucking it!
Mairi suddenly found herself being hauled back and as she slammed against the side of Damen’s body, Damen furiously asked her, “What the hell’s gotten into you?”
That was rich, coming from him, Mairi thought contemptuously. But out loud all she said was, “What are you talking about?”
Damen’s gaze bored through hers. “Don’t play games with me, Mairi.” One minute, all had been right in their world but the moment they had gotten inside the cab, Mairi had suddenly and inexplicably changed. She had ignored him the whole ride, choosing instead to focus all her attention on Drake and asking the other man about “PP”.
“I’m not playing games,” she said calmly. “I’m just talking to Drake—”
“You can talk to me,” he snapped.
“Can I?” She wanted to take the words back the moment they came out. She hadn’t wanted to say that at all, but the hurt and jealousy churning inside her made it difficult to control her tongue.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Mairi looked away as she lied, “I…simply meant that there aren’t really a lot of things we’ve got in common.”
He turned her head back to him the moment her gaze strayed. He wanted her looking at him and not at the other man, dammit. “We have lots of things in common.”
She looked at him doubtfully. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Like what?”
Damen racked his brains for something to prove his point.
When Damen couldn’t answer, Mairi forced herself to smile. “You see? We don’t really have anything—”
He did not want to hear her say those words. “Yes,” he snarled, “we do.” His fingers held her nape and brought her forward to him. “We have this in common.” And not caring about the fact that they were anything but alone inside the cab, Damen crushed her mouth in his kiss.
Shock had Mairi immobile for a second, but almost right after the intense sexual chemistry between them sparked into life. His ravaging lips inflamed her body, and it took everything in her not to respond.
“Kiss me back,” he gritted against her lips.
She didn’t want to. How could she kiss him back when he had just talked to Alina?
“Kiss me back, dammit, or I swear to God, I’ll touch you here.”
The words were supposed to be a threat, she knew, but somehow they just ended up seducing Mairi more, and she couldn’t help but whimper as she felt a rush of wetness in between her legs.
When Mairi’s lips parted, Damen seized his chance, his tongue pushing in and reclaiming what he considered as forever his.
The moment Damen’s tongue entered her mouth, she was lost. His kiss swept her away, destroying her ability to think and leaving her only capable of feeling. With a helpless moan of surrender, Mairi kissed him back as her arms went around his neck and her body softened against him.
The concept of time slipped away from their minds, and both of them forgot that they weren’t alone in the cab. They kissed and kissed and kissed, their heads twisting and turning until Damen lost patience and had Mairi straddling his lap so he could kiss her more deeply while his hand squeezed her bottom.
Mairi found herself rubbing against Damen’s hard cock, which slid tantalizingly between her legs like a hot pulsing rod that made her feel achingly empty. The delicious friction between their bodies made her gasp. It also made her want more, and she tried to satisfy her body’s craving for contact by grinding her pussy harder against Damen.
If she had her way, the kiss would never end. At least when they kissed, it was just them. It was Mairi and Damen, and no one could ever come between them.
It was only when someone knocked insistently on the window next to Damen that they realized they were already home.
Mairi tore herself away from the kiss, gasping and now red-faced in embarrassment as she realized just how much making out they had done in the cab – and with two other men present. She tried to pull away from Damen, but he didn’t let her, instead pulling her head down again for a short hard kiss.
When he released her, Damen said in a low hard voice, “Stop flirting with Morrison.”
Then stop talking to Alina, Mairi thought. But out loud, she only muttered, “I’m not flirting with him.” When Drake opened the door, Mairi hurriedly climbed off Damen’s lap and stepped out of the cab. Behind her, she heard Damen’s phone ring again and she stiffened, waiting to see if he would answer it or not.
He did.
“It’s still not a good time to talk—”
Mairi turned to Drake, saying brightly, “I’m not really in the mood to stay home. How about we go out for coffee and talk some more about PP?” As she spoke, she felt Damen glaring at her from behind. And when she invited Drake out, Mairi heard Damen end the call in an angry mutter. A second later, Damen had hauled her to his side.
“If you want coffee,” he snarled, “I’ll buy you some and you can have them with me.” Without giving her a chance to speak, he practically carried her back inside their home and only managed a nod for the other man before taking his wife upstairs.
Mairi jumped when Damen slammed the bedroom door shut. Whirling around, she saw Damen stalking towards her. The look on his face had her eyes widening and taking a step back. “Damen—”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but if you think making me jealous of Morrison will make me let you go…”
Mairi gasped as Damen reached for her just to spin her around and tear her dress from behind. The cloth gave way with a loud rip. The sound was startlingly erotic in her ears, and her whimper was a mixture of fright and excitement as Damen pushed her to the wall.